WVKL

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Urban adult contemporary radio station in Norfolk, Virginia, United States

title: "WVKL" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["radio-stations-in-norfolk,-virginia", "urban-adult-contemporary-radio-stations-in-the-united-states", "radio-stations-established-in-1961", "audacy,-inc.-radio-stations"] description: "Urban adult contemporary radio station in Norfolk, Virginia, United States" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WVKL" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Urban adult contemporary radio station in Norfolk, Virginia, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox radio station"]

Field	Value
name	WVKL
logo	WVKL-FM 2009.PNG
logo_size	150px
city	Norfolk, Virginia
country	US
area	Hampton Roads
branding	95-7 R&B
airdate
frequency
language	English
format	Urban adult contemporary
subchannels	HD2: The Bet (sports gambling)
erp
haat	268 m
class	B
licensing_authority	FCC
facility_id	4672
coordinates
callsign_meaning	former "Virginia Kool" branding
former_callsigns
affiliations
owner	Audacy, Inc.
licensee	Audacy License, LLC
sister_stations
webcast
website
::

WVKL (95.7 FM) – branded 95-7 R&B – is a commercial urban adult contemporary radio station licensed to serve Norfolk, Virginia. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station services the Hampton Roads region, and is the market affiliate for The Steve Harvey Morning Show. The WVKL studios are located in Virginia Beach, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Suffolk. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WVKL broadcasts over two HD Radio digital subchannels, and is available online via .

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/WVKL_HD.png" caption="EAS]]."] ::

This station began operations as WTAR-FM on September 21, 1961, owned by Norfolk Newspapers, publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. Norfolk Newspapers also owned Virginia's first radio station, WTAR (790 AM), and the market's CBS network affiliate, WTAR-TV. There had been a previous WTAR-FM on 97.3 MHz that began broadcasting in 1948, but had ceased operations a couple of years later.

From its sign-on, WTAR-FM has had an effective radiated power of 40,000 watts, broadcasting from a tower built for WTAR-TV, giving WTAR-FM a height above average terrain of 879 ft, which makes the station overpowered by current standards. On that tower, a Class B station should be limited to around 16,000 watts, but WVKL continues to enjoy a larger coverage area thanks to its grandfathered power.

By the early 1970s, WTAR-FM was separately programmed, airing a beautiful music format; by 1977, WTAR-FM switched its call sign to WKEZ, with the "EZ" in the call letters referring to easy listening music.

As Norfolk Newspapers began acquiring newspapers and broadcast properties in other states, it was renamed Landmark Communications, and later Landmark Media Enterprises. In the 1970s, the FCC began discouraging one company from owning a newspaper, TV station and radio stations, all in the same media market. Landmark was exempt because it owned the properties before the FCC rules went into effect, but decided to sell WTAR-TV to Knight-Ridder in 1981. WKEZ was concurrently moved to a soft adult contemporary format as WLTY, branded The New Y96. The "LT" stood for both "Lite Music" and the slogan "We Listen To You". WLTY shifted to oldies as The New Oldies 96 in May 1989, and then later as Oldies 95.7.

In 1993, Benchmark Communications spent $4.5 million to buy both WLTY and WTAR. In 1997, Benchmark sold WLTY to Heritage Broadcasting, which changed WLTY's call letters to WVCL and re-branded as "Cool 95." The following year, the call sign was modified to WVKL, so instead of "Cool" it became "Kool 95.7."

In February 1998, the Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired WVKL. In December 1999, the station was bought by Entercom. On January 9, 2001, WVKL switched to its current Urban AC format. Entercom has guided WVKL to becoming one of the top stations in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News radio market.

On February 23, 2022, WVKL added The Bet to its HD3 subchannel.

References

"WVKL Facility Record". [[Federal Communications Commission]], audio division.
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1963/B%20N-Z%20Radio%20Broadcasting%20Yearbook%201963.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1963 page B-192]
(April 30, 1951). "WTAR-TV Marks Its First Year". Broadcasting.
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1978/C-2-Broadcasting-Yearbook-1978-Full.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1978 page C-229]
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1982/C%20Radio%20NE%20to%20Terr%20BC%20YB%201982%20All-4.pdf Broadcasting Yearbook 1982 page C-250]
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1990/B-Radio-NE-Terr-BC-YB-1990.pdf {{Dead link. (February 2022)
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1995/B-Radio-NE-Ter-YB-1995.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1995 page B-431]
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1998/D-Radio-NE-Ter-BC-YB-1998.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1998 page D-461]
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/2000/D-Radio-NE-TER-BC-YB-2000-2.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2000 page D-472]
[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/2002-03/A-Radio-NE-TER-BC-YB-2002-3.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2002-2003 page D-474]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20180423034122/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-69522980.html available here]
"Audacy Adds The Bet In Eight More Markets".

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